you had me at hello
by White Firebird
Summary: this is the same woman who once got her head stuck in a toilet and had a crippling addiction to bibble. now she's selling out arenas around the world and her records are going double, sometimes triple platinum. the same woman who would tell me all sorts of crazy stories about her brother. she's now one of the most influential women in the world. unbelievable.
1. intro

**Okay so the idea for this story came to me one day out of the blue. I was never much of a fan of Victorious back when it was on the air (I was always more of an iCarly fan), but recently I decided to sit down and start watching the entire series and now I'm mad I didn't watch it back then. I absolutely love Cat & Robbie together (it helps that I'm a huge fan of Ariana, I suppose), and from that came the idea for this story. I'm still learning about the nuances of the show, the characters and all that as I watch it through with fresh eyes, so bear with me if things here seem a little off. I'm just really excited about this and I want to see where I can take it. So with that, enjoy.**

* * *

_"Hello! I'm Cat Valentine! It's nice to meet you!"_

Nine words. Fourteen syllables. Sixteen vowels. Thirty five letters.

Those were the first words she ever said to me, all the way back in the fifth grade. I remember it like it was yesterday, and it's probably the fondest memory I have of her, or one of them at least. It's so vividly entrenched in my brain because, well, she was the only one who acknowledged my existence and made me feel welcome. She accepted me for who I was, and what I was back then was a nerd with bad hair and a puppet who did all the talking for me. She didn't care and was able to look past that all. She became one of my closest friends, and eventually, my girlfriend. But now?

"Get your tickets here! Front row tickets to the Cat Valentine 'Cat's Meow' world tour! Get 'em here!"

I'm lucky if I get a happy birthday text from her.

As I walk past the large swath of ticket scalpers trying to sell front row tickets to the show tonight, I take a moment to stop and look up at the matinee, where there's a massive poster advertising the concert and the entire tour as a whole. As I take it all in, I can't help but think how much I don't really recognize the woman on there anymore. Sure, she's still got the same red hair and megawatt smile she's always had, but everything else? It's all foreign to me. The way she dresses and does her makeup, the provocative lyrics, it's all different from the Cat Valentine I used to know. Now she's a megastar, the most recognizable face in all of pop music and one of the most influential women in the entire world.

This is the same woman who once got her head stuck in a toilet and had a crippling addiction to Bibble. It's unbelievable how far she's come since then.

Someone bumping up against me jars me from my trance, and I quickly realize that if I don't get moving I'm going to be trampled by one of her rabid fans or a security guard trying to contain them. Pushing thru a throng of concertgoers to the entrance, I show the usher my ticket and he immediately directs me to the VIP area a few feet away, where I'm then whisked into a secluded area of the arena.

Did I mention that she managed to sell out the LA Sportatorium in less than three minutes? _Seventeen and a half thousand_ tickets sold in one hundred and eighty seconds. Nobody had sold the Sportatorium out in six years, and she did it in less time than it takes me to brush my teeth in the morning.

After walking in the bowels of the arena for what felt like forever, I'm shown to an elevator, which will take me up to one of the skyboxes. Immediately after the doors open, I'm met by a ball of energy with brown hair and a huge grin spread across her lips. "Robbie!"

I knew that Jade, Beck, André and even Trina would be here, but this is a pleasant surprise. Last I heard, Tori was out in Arizona working in on a stage production called **'Guys and Dolls'**, where she plays the main character's girlfriend. I've never heard of it but from all accounts, she killed it and was asked to stay out there a little longer. "Tori! I thought you were in Arizona!"

"She was, until I convinced her to come home so she could be here for this", Jade spoke up as she emerged from the other side of the suite, arms extended so she too could give me a hug. "It's good to see that we're all here."

She was right; it was really nice to see everyone in one place again. By my recollection, it's been at least three years since we were all in one place (excluding Cat, of course. The woman is always in the studio or on tour.) André's been busy writing and collaborating on and producing all kinds of music for all kinds of artists (he even helped write some songs on Cat's third album). Trina, believe it or not, is an instructor at one of the top karate academies in all of California, which makes sense, because her karate skills far surpass her acting skills, but shhh. Tori's been up and down California looking for her big break in either theater productions or movies, so she's been in and out of everyone's life. And Beck and Jade are the same as they've always been; forever in love and now, engaged. They're looking at dates for their wedding but I wouldn't be surprised if they ended up eloping. I can't see Jade wanting some big matrimonial affair with friends and family.

"It's good to see you all again too", I say, a smile on my lips as I detach myself from Jade to give Beck, Trina and André hugs of their own. Seeing everyone like this brings me back to better days and happier times. I wish we could all get together like this more often, but that's what happens when you graduate; people fade in and out of your life, and the friends you made are the ones you make an effort to hold onto no matter what. There's no way I'd let everyone here become a distant memory. I just wish I could say the same about Cat.

I haven't seen her in person in almost four years. And a lot of that is my fault.

When we started dating during our senior year at Hollywood Arts, I was the happiest I've ever been in my life. Kind of sad to say six years later, but it's the truth, and I only speak the truth. I was on cloud nine every day of our relationship in the early going. Just getting to be with her and be a big reason for making her smile and laugh so much, to make her happy, it was simply…amazing. **She** was amazing. She made me feel like I was important, even more so than that day in fifth grade. I didn't think there was anything that could go wrong. I thought we would graduate and see where the next phase in our lives would take us.

Until one of her cover videos on Splashface was noticed by a rep from Galaxy Records.

Within a few days they were sending out feelers to her, trying to gauge her interest in possibly signing with them and becoming an artist full time once she graduated. One of the offers they sent her wanted her to get into the studio almost immediately, classes be damned. Cat being Cat, she fretted over what to do and kept waffling on her decision. I can't even begin to tell you the amount of times she would come to me and ask for my opinion on what she should do, sometimes in the middle of the night, sometimes wandering into one of the few classes we didn't share together while said class was happening. I knew how much she had wanted to be involved in music and how she badly wanted to become a singer, so eventually I sat her down one day while I was over her house and gave it to her straight.

I said that she should follow her dreams. That this was something that she had wanted for as long as I had known her. That she had an amazing voice and it would be a disservice to the world for her to not share it with everyone. I told her that opportunities like this didn't come every day, that they came once in a lifetime, maybe twice if you're especially lucky. I told her to just do it.

The next day, she excitedly told me that she had signed the contract and was going to jump into the studio to begin writing songs for her first album that weekend. I was so elated and ecstatic for her as she began the next chapter of her life right before my eyes.

I also knew that, for this new chapter of hers to truly, fully begin…this one had to end.

Her debut album was set to drop a few months after we graduated from Hollywood Arts. The first single off of it, _'My Way'_, had been released a few months beforehand and it just exploded. You couldn't listen to the radio without hearing it at least nine, ten times a day. It was the talk of the entire school, and there were whispers that her album could debut at number one on all the charts. Kids at school were coming up to her asking for autographs. Our own peers! It was crazy. We'd get stopped on the street trying to get ice cream by random pedestrians wanting to tell her how much they loved her. Paparazzi were starting to pop up everywhere. It all just became so much, so quickly, and it felt like we were drowning most days. It was just so overwhelming. If people were getting this crazy over just the debut single, I realized it would be ten times worse when the entire album dropped. This was going to be her life now. She wanted all of this. But I didn't want it to be mine. I didn't want any of it.

So, exactly one month before her album debut dropped…I broke up with her. I didn't give her a reason as to why I was breaking up with her. I haven't told _anyone_ why, honestly. I just…did. You know how there's just certain memories or images that are forever burned into your brain? Well, the image of Cat crying that day has stayed with me all this time later. And I just left her there, tears streaming down her face as she asked me why. I never looked back. I just…disappeared. I thought that was the best thing for me to do.

Clearly, it wasn't.

Did I get all kinds of flak from the group? God did I ever. It got so bad that even Trina was chiming in with her two cents, and she didn't even really associate with us. Jade was by far the worst. They're best friends, so of course she was extra vicious. She made some kind of untold oath to herself that she would always have Cat's back, even if it annoyed her, no matter what. I was legitimately afraid that she was going to take a pair of scissors and stab me with them. I still catch hell from her every so often, usually when Cat drops a new single that inevitably becomes number one everywhere. But they eventually, albeit begrudgingly, respected my reasons, or lack thereof, for why I did what I did. Am I proud of the way I handled it? Oh absolutely not. The first three, four months after I did it, I was a complete wreck. It didn't help that every time I turned on the TV or radio or went on Splashface, I was bombarded with images and articles and videos talking about how much of a star she had become seemingly overnight. I had broken up with her and yet she was…everywhere. She haunted me.

Needless to say, _'Sincerely Yours'_ (the name of her debut album) hit number one on any and every chart imaginable. It stayed in the top ten for three months. It was number one on Pear Tunes for five. It was voted one of the best albums of the year for 2013. She sold out every date on her tour in promotion of it. She was anywhere and everywhere all at once. She was becoming a force of nature in the world of music, and I was so happy for her from my position on the sidelines. Not that it mattered, anyways. I was told by everyone when they went to her post tour wrap party (obviously I wasn't invited) that she alternated between asking everyone how I was doing and if I was okay and then telling them that she never wanted to speak to me again.

And that stayed true. For another year, at least.

She quickly released her second album, _'My One and Only'_, a year later. Jade invited me to come to the release party with her and Beck, because she felt that, even with how everything ended between the two of us, I needed to be a good friend and I needed to be there to support her. I tried fighting it to the bitter end, because I knew Cat didn't want me there, but I eventually relented and figured I'd go and do my best to try and thaw some of the icy divide between the two of us. I also didn't think it'd be that big of a deal if I brought my girlfriend at the time, Daisy, with me to the party. I figured it'd be fun for both of us, and I could try to mend fences with Cat. Win win for everyone, right?

I couldn't have been more wrong.

Needless to say, the second Cat saw that I was with another woman, she flat out ignored me and eventually sequestered herself away in her private VIP area. Jade tried, tried, and tried to get her to come out and stop acting like a brat, but I couldn't really blame her for being as upset as she was. If I were her and I saw me waltz into what was meant to be a celebratory occasion with another woman after things ended the way that they did, I would've ignored me too. It was my fault for thinking it'd be a good idea to bring Daisy with me. And so the last memory I have of Cat is her flipping me off and storming away, screaming about how much of a gank I was.

Until tonight.

"Man, can you believe that Little Red hooked us up with these seats? This is unbelievable!", André commented as he sat down, a plate full of buffalo nuggets and nachos in his hands. "I ain't never been in seats this nice!"

"She didn't want to spare any expense when it came to her friends", Jade said casually, her gaze finding its way onto me, her lips curling upward into that evil smirk that used to terrify me in high school. "Even if she isn't on the best of terms with some of us."

"Which reminds me; why am I even here?", I make sure to ask Jade as quietly as possible; as far as I know, nobody but her and Beck know about what happened four years ago. "I thought she wanted nothing to do with me anymore."

She simply shrugged her shoulders, the smirk never leaving her lips, before throwing her arms around Beck. "Maybe she's trying just to be a good friend and apologize. I don't know, she didn't tell me why, only that she had a ticket for all of us, and that included you."

"I find her wanting to apologize to me for something that happened four years ago a little hard to believe, Jade", I shoot back a little too snippy for my liking, but she merely raises an eyebrow and shrugs again. "She could've reached out to me beforehand to apologize if that's the case."

"And _you_ could've given her a reason, any reason at all, for breaking up with her senior year, but hey, none of us are perfect, so there's that", she sniped right back at me before taking her customary seat in Beck's lap. I went to say something but quickly shut my mouth. I had nothing. All I could do at that point was shove my hands into my pockets and stare at the ground for a few moments. I know that Jade had mellowed out a bit since we graduated, but damn, when she really wanted to cut you, she cut you deep.

I'm stirred from my pensiveness by Tori grabbing my hand and tugging on it. "The show's about to start, sit down!", she basically ordered as she tugged on my hand again. And so I did, not knowing exactly what to expect from said show. I knew it wouldn't be bad, but I didn't think I'd be enjoying it as much as I knew the rest of the gang would. I thought that it would be perfectly cromulent.

Of course, the second she came out on stage, I was hooked.

It goes without saying, but I'll say it anyways; Cat sure does know how to put on one heckuva show. The choreography, the production, the lighting, the acoustics, like…she knows what she's doing out there. I honestly don't think I've ever seen a show quite like this. It got to the point where even I was standing up and hooting and hollering along with her fans and the gang, which led to more than a few weird looks from them, but soon enough we were right back at it, screaming and singing along to every hook and the chorus of every song. I can honestly say that it was one of, if not the best, shows I've ever attended live. Cat really knocked it out of the ballpark. Heck, she knocked that sucker into outer space, it was that good.

"Alright everyone, before I send y'all out with this last song, I just wanna shout out some very important people here in attendance tonight", she said over the house mic, and suddenly a very bright and very large spotlight was shining in my eyes and on the rest of us in our box here. I can't see anything in front of me save for my own two hands, the light is so bright. But I sure can hear what Cat's saying.

"Up there where that light is shining, up in that box, those are my very best friends in this whole world", her voice echoed throughout the arena as her faithful roared their approval. "And I'm so fuckin' grateful for them all. Jade West, Beck Oliver, André Harris, Tori and Trina Vega, I'm so happy y'all could be here to see me perform, I love y'all and I'll be seein' ya after the show!"

I could finally see again, everything was coming back into focus. My eyes darted around the room to see everyone giving me weird looks. Did she…? She totally just flat out didn't acknowledge my existence, didn't she?

"Robbie…I…", Tori starts to say, unsure of how to proceed.

"What the hell was that?", I ask, my voice raising a little higher than I would've liked, but I can't help it right now. I'm beginning to think that was less a mistake and more her just trying to stick it to me. That has to be the reason she didn't mention me. Is she really still that upset over what happened four years ago?

"It was a mistake, it had to have been", I hear Jade say, her tone betraying her spoken words. "She wouldn't do that on purpose."

And to think, I was having such a good time.

"You're all going to see her after the show?", I ask as I sit back down, my mind racing a mile a minute. I shouldn't be letting this bother me as much as it is, but I really can't help how I feel right now. And right now I feel so incredibly slighted. How does she have a ticket with my name on it and then just completely ignore the fact that I even showed up? I just…I don't even know.

"Yeah but you don't have to come if you—", Jade began to say before I cut her off.

"I'm coming with you, if that's okay. Just because _she_ wants to act like a child doesn't mean **I'm** going to."

I left enough finality in my voice to let them know that I wasn't going to budge on this, and thankfully none of them put up a fight to try and deter me from it. I can't believe that this is actually going to happen now. I haven't seen her in four years, and the last conversation we had in person was us screaming at one another. I'm really hoping I can get my temper in check before I see her, because the last thing I want is a repeat of back then.

Twenty minutes later, after being led down back to the main floor of the arena, security shepherded us to the backstage area, and all I could hear as I navigated the narrow hallways was the sound of my own heartbeat thumping against my ribcage. Holy chiz, this is happening. This is actually happening. Oh gosh. What am I getting myself into?

Right as I go to turn around and find a corner for me to calm myself down, I hear Jade call her name, and I'm frozen in place. Turning my head to look in the direction of Jade's voice, I catch a glimpse of her over Beck's shoulder and I feel like I'm being teleported back in time to the fifth grade. She's changed out of the gaudy outfit she was wearing on stage and wearing pink and white everything. Her hair's down and it's as red as I can ever remember it being. She looks like the Cat Valentine I used to know and love.

I watch from the back of the pack as she makes her way through the group, greeting them and giving each of them a hug and a kiss. Either she's a better actress than I've given her credit for and she legitimately doesn't see me, or she's being as bratty as I think she is and she's still straight up ignoring me. I can't seem to tell which. So I'm deciding to take matters into my own hands.

"Hi, Cat."

She yelps that same yelp she always used to yelp whenever something would spook her, and a tiny part of me misses being able to hear that every day. She's now facing me, and it looks like all the color has drained from her face somewhat. She honestly looks like she's seen a ghost. I can see the gears turning in her head, like she's stuck trying to figure out what to say to me.

"Rob…_Robbie?_ Is that you?"

Maybe she is a better actress than I ever thought she was. Maybe she really didn't see me just now. Heck, maybe she didn't even realize I was here? I mean, could you blame her for thinking I might not've shown up? I'm beginning to think that this was all some sort of misunderstanding, and I'm really pinning my hopes on that notion. A small sense of relief begins to wash over me as she squeezes in-between André and one of the many security guards surrounding us. She goes in with the intention of giving me a hug, and despite how I'm currently feeling, I would love nothing more than to reciprocate said hug.

Except I've already stuck my hand out for a handshake like a complete stiff.

_Smooth_, Shapiro.

This is something my father would do. A handshake, really? What's wrong with me? I can see the somewhat crestfallen look on her face that quickly gives way to something unrecognizable as she takes my hand and gives it a quick shake. A quick glance around the hallway shows me that it's just the two of us here now. Because of course everyone else would leave us alone. _Of course._

I can tell she's anxious because she's pulling on the strings of her hoodie and looking around the hall for something to distract her from the very real situation that is seeing me for the first time in four years in front of her. I watch as her eyes dart down to the floor, the ceiling, the walls, anywhere but me. It's nice to see that she hasn't completely changed who she is now that she's ultra-famous.

"I can't—"

"Your show was—"

"You go—"

"No you go—"

She laughed a bit nervously while I rubbed the back of my neck, fighting the urge to flash a smile and failing. She's still the same nervous ball of energy underneath the risqué outfits and sexually charged lyrics.

"No, Cat, you go. Ladies first."

A ghost of a smile briefly spreads across her lips as she tucks her hair behind her ear. She still looks like she's unsure of what to say to me, and for that I can't entirely blame her. She's got every reason to be guarded around me. I haven't exactly given her a reason to be forthright.

"I…I can't believe that you're actually here."

I didn't sense any form of sincerity in her voice as she spoke those words. In fact, her entire body language and demeanor screams that something is off. The anger I was feeling earlier begins to bubble up within me again, but now isn't the time to get into an argument with her. I need to try and let the slight she dealt me earlier go. I'm a better person than that. I know I am.

"So is that why you conveniently left my name out when you were thanking everyone else for making it out to the show?"

Smooth, Shapiro.

"I really didn't think you'd come, Robbie. If I had known I—"

"You had a ticket with my name on it; you had to have known I was here, Cat."

"I didn't know you were here until just now!"

"Don't you have people that tell you when guests you _personally invite_ arrive?"

"Everyone was running around backstage making sure the show went smoothly! Nobody had time to tell me anything before I went out on stage! I only found out Jade and everyone else was here halfway thru the show!"

I don't think I've ever rolled my eyes so hard at something she's said before, but this might've taken the cake. I don't even think she believes her own chiz. I'm so angered right now, I just feel like screaming at her. I **should** scream at her. Maybe then she'll understand why I'm this incensed. But I have to try and take the high road here. Key operative being 'try'. I have to be better than that.

"Cat, I came here because despite everything that's happened between us, I wanted to support you. You've been one of my best friends since we were kids. I know we haven't been exactly close the last few years—"

"Yeah and why do you think that is, huh Robbie?"

Damn it.

"Cat…"

"It's bad enough that you break up with me in-between graduating and my first album dropping, it's bad enough that you don't reach out to congratulate me on any of my success, and it was bad enough that you brought some random gank to my release party four years ago, but now you're getting bent out of shape over an honest mistake!? What's wrong with you?"

So much for not getting into another argument with her...

"What's wrong with me!? What's wrong with _me?_ Seriously Cat, we're playing that game? Because I know for a fact it's a game you won't like playing!"

"This shouldn't even be that big of a deal to you, Robbie! Why do you care so much?"

"It **is** a big deal to me! I care because it feels like you don't care about our friendship or our history!"

"What friendship!? What history!? We haven't spoken or seen each other in years before tonight! And our history!? You mean the same history that involves you dumping me without even giving me a reason why?"

That stopped me dead before I could say anything else. I go to open my mouth but quickly shut it, much like a goldfish would. I can see from the incredibly hurt look on her face that she's doing her damndest to not break out into tears right now. Does she still feel torn up over how our relationship ended? She can't…can she?

"Cat…I…are you…?"

She turns on her heels, back facing towards me, shoulders rising with every deep breath I can hear her sucking in. "I think it's best if you leave, Robbie. Terrance is head of security; he's down at the end of the hall and he can escort you to your car. Thanks for coming. It was so nice catching up with you. Goodbye."

Before I can even get another word in, she's already halfway to her dressing room, the sounds of her biting back her sobs faintly filling the air and echoing throughout my head. First time in four years that I've seen her and now I'm probably never going to see her again. All because I couldn't let something so small and insignificant as a missed shout out at the end of her show go.

Smooth, Shapiro.


	2. broken glass

_Two months later_

I'm stirred awake by the sound of my phone ringing off the hook. Groaning, I begin blindly stabbing at the area of my nightstand where I think I placed it, fumbling around looking for it thru half open eyes before finally feeling the plastic of my case in my hand. Upon seeing that it's a number I don't recognize, I hastily placed it back down on my nightstand and turned back over in bed, thinking nothing of it.

Until it continued ringing. And ringing. And ringing.

On the sixth ring, I sigh exasperatedly and exhaustedly, grabbing the offending item that's meddling with my sleep and swipe along the screen, not holding back my ire one bit as I bark into the speaker, "You have the wrong number!"

"Robbie! Thank god you're awake, it's Jade!"

Jade? What the heck was she doing calling me from an unknown number? "What number is this you're calling me from? Do you even realize what time it is?"

"I'm at the hospital, you dingus, and I don't care what time it is, this is an emergency!"

My mind, even in its still half asleep addled state, immediately races to a conclusion that I don't it want to arrive at. "What happened? Are you okay? Where's Beck? Please tell me—"

I can hear the panic in her voice and sounds of hysteria in the background as she rattles off, "It's not me or Beck, we're both fine!"

"Then what is it?"

I knew exactly what she was going to say before she even said it.

Cat.

"It's Cat."

_Damn it._

I laid myself up against the headboard as Jade rattled off what exactly happened that led to this phone call; a week ago, Cat had to cancel a show due to a sore throat and immediately announced a makeup date, because if there's one thing she hates, it's letting her fans down, no matter what. But her sore throat led to a case of the flu, and she had to cancel a couple more dates against her will. In an attempt to get back on the road as quickly as possible, though, she downed what Jade described was 'an almost grotesque amount' of cough medicine and antibiotics. And so off she went, when she clearly was in no condition to do so.

"Wait, is that why she's in the hospital?", I asked, the panic previously in Jade's voice now apparent in my own as I waited anxiously for her to answer. "Did she take too much medicine and—"

"No, but the medicine didn't help."

"Then what happened?"

"Well, you know how when Cat gets scared or frightened, she faints?"

All I could do was nod my head, barely muttering an _'Uh huh'_ into the phone before she continued. "She was on stage during rehearsals and between being drowsy and medicated out of her right mind…"

I couldn't take the suspense and just rudely blurted out "What the hell happened!?"

I could practically see the murderous look on Jade's face in my head, and I knew she wanted to put me in my place, but she very audibly sighed and I could hear her telling who I presumed was Beck that she'd just be another minute. "An accidental blast of pyrotechnics went off while she was practicing her choreography. It spooked her, and she took a tumble off the stage. She broke her leg in three places, and fractured her wrist. They set her wrist, and they're waiting for the swelling in her leg to subside some before she can go in for surgery."

An uneasy silence engulfed me as I sat there, phone still pressed to my ear and my jaw hanging. A tiny part of me wanted to scoff and tell Jade to quit playing around like this; this was the kind of thing she would joke about when we were in school. That's what this had to be, right? A joke. A sick, cruel, twisted joke coming from the torturous mind of Jade West. But the concern and worry that was laced throughout her voice…

"Where are you now?"

"The show was happening in San Diego, she was rushed here overnight. We're at Peter Sinai. Andre just got here; Tori and Trina are on their way. Are you coming?"

There it was, the million dollar question. Did I _want_ to go? Yes. Regardless of everything that's happened between us, she's still someone I consider a friend. But _should_ I? Seeing how things were left last time…no, probably not. And part of me can't bear the idea of walking into a room to find Cat propped up in a hospital bed with wires hanging everywhere and looking…broken. There's a lot of things I don't want to see in my life, and that's near the top of the list.

"I don't know if I should."

Another sigh, this one with more frustration and agitation behind it. "Robbie, don't be an idiot. Who cares how things went when you last saw her. She's your friend. She'd do the same for you if the roles were reversed."

Biting back the obvious smart-ass response of _'Would she, though?'_, I shook my head. It's my turn to sigh now, my eyes drifting up to the ceiling as the internal debate of what to do began raging within me. On one hand, it would be pretty janky of me to be the only one not there, right? I mean, there's nothing stopping me from doing so…other than the crippling sense of walking in there and her telling me to turn right around.

Would she even want me there after what happened? After _everything_ that's happened? I can't see her being completely okay with it, even if she's in the state that she's currently in. And selfish as it may sound, but I don't want to go there only for her to not want me there. I can understand it, but I don't think I could handle it.

"I don't think I'm going to go, Jade. I'm sorry."

If she could've reached through the phone to strangle me to death, I'm one hundred percent certain that she would've. I could hear her grinding her teeth together, trying her best to be diplomatic and not worry Cat or Beck or anyone else that might be there, but I knew that she wanted to find the nearest pair of scissors and stab me to death with them. This was one of the few times I wasn't about to let her intimidate me into doing something, though. No. I'm being resolute with this. It's my decision, and no matter how unpopular it might be, I'm sticking to it.

"Shapiro, so help me, if I have to come to your apartment and physically drag you here, I will."

I flinched and felt a sense of dread in my gut, but I wasn't about to let her in on that. "I won't go all the way there just for Cat to tell me to buzz off, okay? I'm not coming, that's final."

The growl coming from the other end told me that either she was at her wits end with me, or she seriously was going to drive here to do exactly what she said she'd do, at which point I should probably get out of bed and lock every door and window here.

Oh who am I kidding? This is Jade. She'd find a way in regardless.

"Jade, I understand why you're pissed, but look at it from my point of—"

That did it for her. "For fuck's sake, Robbie, she wants you here!"

"Humma?"

"Did I stutter? **She. Wants. You. Here.** One of the first things she asked me was if you were coming to visit or not, okay? So can you please, for everyone's sake, swallow the small amount of pride you have and get down here already?"

She wanted me there? No, that couldn't be right. She _wanted_ me there? Noooo. No way. _She_ wanted _me_ there? No matter how many times I repeated it to myself, it didn't make it sound any less...surreal? No, surreal would imply that this was almost dreamlike, and this most definitely was real life. _She wanted me there_…was this a dream? Maybe? For all I know, I could still be asleep, my phone wouldn't have been ringing off the hook, Jade and Beck are back in San Andreas and Cat was still on tour. Yeah, this was definitely a dream. Just let me pinch myself and…

Ow!

_Crap._

It hadn't occurred to me that Jade was still waiting for me to say something on the other end, and I felt as if her patience with me was just about to wear completely thin, if it hadn't already. So I raised my phone back up to my ear, puffed out my cheeks as I exhaled, and tried my best to not have my voice crack as I spoke.

"I'll be there in a half hour."

* * *

Sure enough, a half hour later and there I was, walking the sterilized halls of Peter Sinai, looking for Room 4C. The last time I was here, it was with Rex when he 'died' and then was 'brought back to life'. I remember being so cut up about it. Looking back though, maybe I should've let him 'die'. All he did was cause me grief and embarrass me and just…I sometimes wonder why I held onto him as long as I did, when I had all that I wanted and needed right in front of me, and—

"There you are."

I look up to see Tori standing in the hallway, waving me over in her direction. I'll admit, it's nice to see her friendly face and not Jade's in this moment. I'm fairly sure that she'd want to punch me or thump my forehead for even entertaining the idea of not coming. "Hey Tor, it's nice to see you. Sorry I'm late."

She smiled at me and then, in one swift motion…proceeded to thump me on my forehead.

"OW! What the heck was that for!?"

She looked at me as if it was the silliest question she had ever been asked by anyone ever. "Jade told me to do it if I saw you before she did."

Ah. Well then. That makes sense.

Rubbing the spot where her palm made contact with my skin, I shake my head and peer around her shoulder into the room, catching a brief glance of the back of André's head before pulling back. "How is she holding up? Has the swelling in her leg gone down any?"

"Why don't you go and see for yourself?"

Her voice had a bit of a chill to it, like she was still coming to grips with what she had seen, which just made me feel all sorts of twisted up and anxious inside. I did my best to push those feelings down as far as I could though, because whether I realized it now or later, I needed to be strong for myself. More importantly, I needed to be strong for Cat.

Walking around Tori, I strode into the room slowly, and that's when my heart broke. There she was, unconscious, her leg looking like a giant plum, it was so swollen. She appeared to be sleeping as peacefully as one could imagine, her fractured wrist already in a cast as she laid there. I felt Tori's hand on my shoulder, giving me a comforting squeeze before she took her place to Cat's left, next to Trina, who was holding onto one of her fingers. To the right sat Beck and Jade, who looked like she was on the verge of another crying fit as she held Cat's good hand in her own, while Beck rubbed her back up and down.

"Hey Rob", murmured André as I moved up next to him, merely nodding in his direction as I looked down at Cat. I reasoned with myself that, as bad as it looked right now, it had the potential to be far, far worse.

And as if he were picking up on my thoughts, André leaned in and whispered "She's been like this since I got here. Doc said she might've suffered a concussion on top of everything else. We're just waiting for her to wake up so they can test her before she goes in for surgery."

A heavy sigh escaped my lips, my hands nervously digging into my pocket as I watched her chest rise ever so lightly with every breath she took. Even with a broken leg, fractured wrist and possible concussion, she still managed to look like a million bucks. It was amazing, really. She could market hospital gowns as the next big thing in fashion and it would sell like hot cakes. The thought of hundreds of thousands of girls wearing fashionable hospital gowns in public brought the tiniest of grins to my lips as I imagined the absurdity of it all.

I glanced over to the right and made eye contact with Beck, and we nodded at each other, a silent understanding that it was nice to see each other, even if the circumstances were less than ideal. It was then that Jade let go of Cat's hand and turned to face me, her face awash with relief as she stood up to snare me in a hug that frankly I wasn't expecting given the contentious nature of our phone call. So I did what came naturally, and reciprocated her hug with one of my own. I could hear the sniffles she was trying to suppress, and it only now dawned on me that this must be excruciating for her to see. They were still best friends, and even with all of Cat's success and recognition, nothing had changed the bonds they had forged and the memories they had shared over the years. Jade didn't care about a whole lot, but she cared very much for Cat, almost too much sometimes, but good luck telling her to pull back and let Cat do her own thing for too long. Cat was the child and Jade was the overprotective but still super supportive mom who loved her child very much but would also make sure to child proof any and everything, just in case.

"Thank you for coming", she whispered as her nails dug into the back of my jacket. "I'm sorry I was being so bitchy before. It's just—"

"I get it, Jade, I do. I know this is hard for you, seeing her like this. You've got nothing to apologize for; it's me who was being an idiot. I just…I didn't want to…"

It was Jade's turn to interrupt me. "I know, and I do understand. But trust me, when she wakes up, she's gonna be so relieved to see you, regardless of everything. What she needs right now are her friends, and we're the best she's got in that regard."

"Yeah", I murmured, my eyes unable to look at anything other than Cat's sleeping form. "I guess you're right."

Jade could sense that I was still struggling for the words to properly convey how I felt right now, so she grabbed my sleeve and pulled me into the hallway, making sure to shut the door behind her, so as to not raise suspicion. "Do you know what she said to me when I got here last night? The first thing she said to me?"

She took my silence as reason to push on. "She said she wanted to see you."

My eyes swiveled sideways as if I were a chameleon or some type of lizard. Hearing it in person as opposed to over the phone didn't make me lower my walls any less. "That cannot possibly be true at all."

Her hands were held up as if she were defending herself from something, her shoulders shrugging as she took a step back. "I wasn't lying over the phone and I'm not lying now. I don't lie, Robbie. You can accuse me of a lot of things, but lying isn't one of them."

"Well, actually, remember that one time when we were at Tori's and you broke her mom's—"

"Robbie?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

"Noted."

Before anything else could be said, the door swung open and Beck popped his head out into the hallway, the look on his face somewhere in-between happiness and caution. "Cat's awake."

With that, my feet carried me into the room as Jade pushed past me to be by her side, whispering to her that everything was gonna be okay and that they'd fix her leg up and make it brand new. In fact, they were all huddled around the bed, while I hung back by the door, content to let them see her and comfort her. I figured it'd be smart to let her see them all first. As I plotted to sneak out and grab a cup of coffee, I heard a voice call to me as my hand made contact with the door handle.

"Robbie? Is that you?"

If my heart wasn't already broken from seeing her in this state, it certainly broke hearing her voice sound so frail and hoarse. I turned to face her as her heavily lidded eyes snared mine and I was stuck. Even like this, half asleep and in obvious pain, she had me. I was in her crosshairs and I couldn't do a damn thing about it.

"Hi, Cat."

It was as if hearing my voice woke something up inside of her, and those previously sleep heavy eyes were now wide open and vibrant, as if she had been injected with new life somehow. She was so alive suddenly, that she tried sitting up and getting out of her bed…only to immediately let out a yelp of pain and just as quickly sink back onto the wall of pillows she had been resting on. I was immediately at her side along with everyone else, just staring at her while they all whispered reassurances that she was gonna be better than she was before.

"Baby girl you can't be doing something like that, you don't want to exacerbate your condition", Jade whispered, giving Cat's good hand a gentle tug, which she returned with a slight nod, her eyes flitting over to me, where they remained.

"I know. I'm sorry", she murmured, never once taking those chocolate brown orbs off of me.

Everyone kept telling her that her surgery wouldn't be as bad as she thought it would be, and just generally kept comforting her, but while that was going on, her and I were having a conversation with just our eyes. And what her eyes were telling me, over and over, was 'thank you'. Eventually I gave her a nod and the briefest of smiles, and she smiled back in return. And so we remained like that, neither one of us wanting to take our eyes off of the other, for fear of one of us possibly disappearing. Or maybe she thought we were having a staring contest and she just didn't wanna lose. Wait, did she…?

I blinked. She smirked before following suit. I knew it.

"Okay everyone, I'm sorry but I'll have to ask you to leave", a voice that presumably belonged to the doctor caring for her says as we all turn to face him, and it's then that I have a major flashback to freshman year. "We have to administer Miss Valentine's concussion test and then get her prepped for surgery…is there something I can help you with, son?"

I shook my head and rubbed at the back of my neck, feeling everyone's eyes on me. "No, I'm just having a flashback to a rather unpleasant moment in my life. Sorry if I was looking at you weird, sir."

It then dawned on him. "Oh yeah, you're the kid that was in here a few years ago with the puppet right?", he asked me before he turned his attention to Tori and Trina. "You said you'd go on a date with my son Lendle if I helped kill it off", his eyes now on Trina, "and you're the one that ended up on the date with him, correct? Wow, small world. Go from taking care of a puppet to being the doctor for Cat Valentine."

We all shared odd looks with each other before shuffling out of the room, but not before I had my chance to say something to Cat without the intruding ears of the rest of the gang. Hanging back as they all exited single file, I knelt down beside her, taking her good hand and melding it into my own. Surprisingly she didn't turn away; in fact her entire focus was now back on me, and suddenly I felt like I was being put on the spot again.

She was staring at me expectantly, waiting for me to say something, the gaze of the doctor now on me as well, his impatient foot tapping his way of telling me to speed whatever this was up.

"Cat", I managed to croak out, my throat drier than I could ever remember it being. "I…"

"I know, Robbie", she spoke softly, gripping my hand tighter. "Thank you for being here. It means a lot. I can't say that enough."

All I could do was manage a smile and nod my head, because my brain cut off the ability to speak. I gave her hand one last squeeze before finally making my way to the door, only to be stopped by her voice calling out to me.

"Will you still be here when I'm out of surgery?", she asked hopefully, another impromptu staring contest happening between us.

This time, she blinked first. I smirked before following suit.

"Of course I will."

* * *

"How much longer do you think she'll be in there?"

André's question hung in the air for what felt like an eternity before Beck finally spoke up, doing his best not to disturb Jade, who had taken to falling asleep in his lap. "It's been what, three, three and a half hours? It shouldn't be much longer. My cousin had the same procedure done on his leg, so—"

"What exactly are they doing, again?", asked Tori as she shuffled in her own seat, gently nudging Trina's head off of her shoulder so that she didn't get any drool on her jacket.

"Putting a metal rod into her leg to stabilize the bones", muttered Jade sleepily before she burrowed her face deeper into Beck's chest.

"Yes, that."

I went to say something before catching the door across from us swing open, Cat's doctor walking out briskly. He walked into the middle of the waiting room, a smile on his face as he clasped his hands together. "Good news, everyone. Her surgery went well and—"

That was all it took for Jade to wake up and spring into action, pushing past him as she speed walked down the hall to Cat's room, kicking the door open, then promptly slamming it shut.

"She's not supposed to be in there yet", the doc stated simply, more so to himself as he looked around at all of us.

"Good luck telling her that", I said while Beck began apologizing for Jade's behavior. It was then that the door to Cat's room swung back open with the same vigor in which it had been kicked open.

"Shapiro! Get over here, pronto!"

I looked down the hall at Jade quizzically, only getting up from my seat once she stomped her foot fervently, at which point I put some extra spring in my step. "What's up? Is Cat okay? Is she awake? Can we see her?"

"She's fine. She's still a little loopy from the anesthesia but…"

"But what?"

She looked all around, at the walls, the ceiling, her feet, anywhere but at me. Finally she made eye contact and sighed.

I knew what she was gonna ask before she even asked it.

She wanted me to help Cat.

"Cat wants to know if you can help her with her rehab. More importantly, she wants to know if you can move in with her while doing so."

Damn it.

Wait. _What?_

* * *

**And that's that for chapter two! Hope y'all enjoy. Things will be picking up in the next chapter. And everything else I'm working on will be updated soon as well. Laterrrrrr! **


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